Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly to portable electronic devices having acoustic and/or proximity sensors.
Background Art
Portable electronic devices are continually becoming more advanced. Simple cellular telephones with 12-digit keypads have evolved into “smart” devices with sophisticated touch-sensitive screens. These smart devices are capable of not only making telephone calls, but also of sending and receiving text and multimedia messages, surfing the Internet, taking pictures, and watching videos, just to name a few of their many features.
Advances in technology do not always result in the elimination of problems, however. Illustrating by example, sophisticated touch-sensitive displays are capable of being actuated by a variety of devices. More than once a smart device user has “pocket dialed” an unintended party when an object in their pocket has caused a false activation of the touch-sensitive screen to place a telephone call to a person without the knowledge of the smart device's owner. In an attempt to combat this and other “false trip” situations, designers have added complex locking mechanisms that require a multitude of gestures or user manipulations to unlock the device prior to use. While such locking mechanisms can work, the many gestures and user input manipulations required take time. Consequently, a person may miss taking a picture of their child's first steps simply because they could not get their smart device unlocked. It would be advantageous to have an improved device and/or method to reduce the occurrence of false activation of user interfaces.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure.